AWADmail Issue 689

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language

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It may be of interest to note that both Miguel de Cervantes and William
Shakespeare died on the same day, April 23, 1616. Two of the most
well-known, talented authors from those medieval years to die the same day
is a coincidence that most authors would not dream of!

Jack Miles, North Vancouver, Canada

[Update: Cervantes & Shakespeare didn’t die on the same day. See explanation.]

From: Andrew Pressburger (andpress sympatico.ca)
Subject: Quixote

The Don may have dreamed the impossible dream and tilted into windmills,
but he was nobody’s fool. This is what he has to say on the delicate
subject of self-satisfied authors’ bias: “It is natural to fathers and
mothers not to think their own children ugly; and this error is nowhere
so common as in the offspring of the mind.”

I was about nine or ten when my mother used the expression “tilting at
windmills” in conversation. Then she asked me if I knew where the phrase
came from. I replied proudly, “Yes, it’s from Don Quixote!”

Alas, I was unaware that Spanish assigns different pronunciations to
letters than English does. I pronounced the Don’s name as “QUIX-oat”.

My mother had minored in Spanish in university and worked for the Children’s
Aid Society in Spanish Harlem. She started laughing and told me that I made
the Don sound like breakfast cereal. I suppose she thought this was funny,
but I was embarrassed and angry.

Four decades later, my feelings have been somewhat assuaged by the alternate
pronunciation you offered: KWIK-suht. I wasn’t far off after all.

Great theme this week. Earlier this year I read the entire 940 pages of Don
Quixote. Just an amazing literary work. But I also think that there is a
broad misconception about this wonderful character. The best description
of who Don Quixote really was comes from his own words which I copied
while reading the book:

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to
be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams -- this may be madness;
and madness of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be.”

In his book Travels with Charley,
John Steinbeck tells us that he named his camper Rocinante, as he felt
quixotic trying to get to know America in one voyage. Further, he wrote,
no one ever asked him about the name, which was written in a fancy script
on the side of the camper shell.

Dr. Alexis Melteff, Santa Rosa, California

From: Steve Kirkpatrick (stevekirkp comcast.net)
Subject: Rosinante

I expected that Rosinante would be a somewhat favorable name, that it was
the name of a horse which would later become a nag or a hack.
Current usage of the name may have morphed it into a slur, but I’d guess
that Cervantes created that name as an irony, that the horse isn’t yet a
nag or a hack.

I asked my brother not to refer to my earlier self or my looks in old
photos as Stephenante.

Steve Kirkpatrick, Olympia, Washington

From: Curtis Reeves (creeves alumni.usc.edu)
Subject: Pronunciations

I truly enjoyed this week’s words of the day. I must comment, however, that
the Anglicized pronunciations of Quixote, Dulcinea, Sancho, and Rosinante
made my hair hurt.

Spanish is a euphonic language with its trilled initial ‘R’s, its long vowel
sounds and its usual accent on the penultimate syllable of the word. It
would have been nice if you had provided the correct Spanish pronunciation
in addition!

Curtis Reeves, Fresno, California

Thanks for your note. We list the pronunciations of words as
they are spoken in the English language. When we adopt a word
from another language, it often undergoes changes in sounds
and spelling to fit in its new home. For example, Spanish
Rocinante becomes Rosinante in English. Same with pronunciations
as you have noted.
-Anu Garg

From: John Kimber (jkimber391 aol.com)
Subject: Quixote words

As a middle manager and engineer in a large company I was often assigned
what I considered a futile task. I would be chastised for a negative
attitude. So I used to sign off my emails “Saddling up Rosinante now to
work on xyz proposal.” Some people caught the reference -- but not many.

An interesting factoid. Guanajuato, Mexico, holds an annual Cervantes
festival. It claims to be the Don’s burial place. When Mexican Tourism
officials said this was a false claim, the mayor had a public ceremony in
which a copy of the book was interred in the town square, therefore making
the claim true.

John Kimber, Calgary, Canada

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Limericks

Oh, ardent Quixote who fain
chose Aldonza Lorenzo to reign
in obsessions romantic,
to spur deeds more antic
than Sancho could ever explain.

-Laurence McGilvery, La Jolla, California (laurence mcgilvery.com)

My husband is the head honcho,
While I tag along as Sancho,
As we take a trip,
Upon a cruise ship,
Both wearing a matching poncho.

-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

When Jason was helped by Medea
He begged “Be my dear Dulcinea”
They sold off the fleece
Got a place back in Greece
And then filled it with stuff from IKEA.

-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

His eyes all starry,”Ohh,”
sighs bold Lothario.
“Nice try!” she cries.
(She’s much too wise
to be his quarry.) “Go!”

-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

In the eighties two great vigilantes
Protected our uncles and aunties
On Bronson and Goetz
We could place all our bets
The police? Bunch of old Rosinantes.